2025 in Review

A record increase in solar power meant clean electricity growth was large enough to meet all additional electricity demand globally in 2025. This resulted in a slight decline in fossil generation. Solar power led both globally and across major economies, cementing its place as the fastest-growing electricity source of all time.

Solar met three-quarters of global electricity demand growth as fossil fuels stagnated

In 2025, solar generation increased by a record 636 TWh (+30%), double the total annual electricity demand of the United Kingdom. Solar alone met 75% of the increase in electricity demand of 849 TWh (+2.8%). China (+336 TWh) contributed more than half of the increase in solar generation, with the US (+85 TWh) and EU (+60 TWh) also adding substantial solar output.

Wind saw the second-largest increase, growing 205 TWh (+8.2%). This was similar to growth in 2024 (+190 TWh, +8.2%). Although below the record increase of 265 TWh in 2021, it was still equivalent to more than Poland’s total electricity demand. As with solar, China also made up the majority of the global rise in wind, with an increase of 138 TWh (+14%), ahead of India at 22 TWh (+28%). Combined, wind and solar grew by 841 TWh, meeting 99% of global electricity demand growth.

With nuclear and other low-carbon sources increasing by an additional 46 TWh, all clean power sources together exceeded the growth in global electricity demand, leading to a small fall in fossil generation of 38 TWh (-0.2%).

Nuclear power rose moderately by 35 TWh (+1.3%), largely driven by new reactors coming online in China (+37 TWh), as well as increased output in France (+12 TWh) and Japan (+9 TWh). Conversely, reactor closures in Belgium reduced output by 7 TWh.

Hydropower remained similar to 2024, increasing by 3 TWh (+0.1%). Hydro output increased most in China (+45 TWh), while strong monsoon rainfall improved output in India (+21 TWh). This was balanced out by large declines in Brazil (-25 TWh), Türkiye (-17 TWh) and in the EU (-43 TWh), where alpine regions of Italy, France and Switzerland were particularly affected by lower precipitation following good hydro conditions in 2024.

Electricity demand grew in line with the recent average

Global electricity demand grew by a moderate 2.8% (+849 TWh) in 2025, significantly below the 4.3% growth in 2024, but broadly in line with the ten-year average annual increase of 2.7% (2015 to 2024). The increase in 2025 still represents the sixth-largest absolute annual rise ever recorded.

In 2024, exceptionally high temperatures compared to 2023 had pushed demand growth well above structural trends. However, because conditions in 2025 remained similar to those in 2024, weather was not a factor driving demand growth at the global level this year.

A slowdown in industrial activity, particularly in countries with large industrial demand such as China, also contributed to lower growth in 2025. In contrast, the electrification of other sectors such as transport, as well as rising data centre demand are driving higher electricity needs (see more analysis on factors affecting demand growth in 2025 in Chapter 3).

The record increase in solar power of 636 TWh was 33% higher than the previous record set in 2024 (+479 TWh) and four times larger than the increase five years ago in 2020 (+155 TWh). Solar generation growth in 2025 represents the largest annual increase of any individual electricity source on record, with the exception of the rebound in coal generation (+719 TWh) after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

Solar records the largest structural rise of any electricity source ever

Unlike coal’s increase in 2021, solar additions reflect structural capacity expansion rather than fluctuations in demand. It was only the third time ever that a source increased by more than 500 TWh in generation in a single year. For the fourth year running, solar recorded the largest absolute growth of any electricity source.

The continued growth in solar generation was supported by a new record for capacity additions of 647 GW in 2025. Global solar capacity installations increased by 11% compared to 2024 (+582 GW), which will support sustained generation growth well into 2026.

Solar’s exponential rise continues as it overtakes wind

Solar power increased from 2,143 TWh in 2024 to 2,778 TWh in 2025, a 30% increase and the highest growth rate in eight years despite a much higher base. This shows that solar’s exponential growth trajectory remains intact even at scale. Global solar output is now the same size as the total electricity demand of the EU-27.

Over the last ten years, solar grew at an average rate of 27% per year, with the annual growth rate never dropping below 21%.

Ten years ago, in 2015, solar power generated 256 TWh globally. At the time, nuclear power was ten times larger than solar, and wind power was three times larger. Since then, global solar generation has grown more than tenfold, overtaking wind power for the first time ever in 2025 and nearly drawing level with nuclear power. During the summer in the northern hemisphere of 2025 – from April to September – solar generated more electricity globally than nuclear power. Both solar and wind are expected to overtake nuclear power in 2026.

Half of the increase in solar generation in the last decade was achieved in just the last three years, with output doubling from 1,333 TWh in 2022. Over that period, solar’s increase in annual generation of 1,445 TWh met half of the global increase in electricity demand of 2,862 TWh. Solar has now been the fastest-growing source globally (in percentage terms) for 21 consecutive years.

2025 marked the first year since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 without an increase in electricity generation from fossil fuels and only the fifth year this has happened since the turn of the century. Previous falls in global fossil generation occurred only during global recessions or exceptionally mild years. In contrast, the IMF expects global economic growth in 2025 of 3.2%, in line with the ten-year average (2015-2024) of 3.1%. Equally, changes in weather conditions had no significant influence on electricity demand growth at a global level.

In a stark departure from historical trends, fossil generation fell in both China (-56 TWh, -0.9%) and India (-52 TWh, -3.3%), driven by continued rapid clean power deployment and moderate demand growth. Combined, China and India made up 42% of global fossil generation in 2025. Their falls offset small increases in the US, EU and other economies, leading to a minor fall in fossil generation at a global level of 38 TWh (-0.2%). The net change in global fossil generation was the result of a combination of a fall in coal generation of 63 TWh (-0.6%) and other fossil generation (-12 TWh, -1.4%), mostly from oil, and a rise in gas generation of 36 TWh (+0.5%).

This was the first year this century that fossil generation declined simultaneously in both China and India, two of the world’s three largest power sector emitters (read more about the role of China and India in Chapter 2). As a result, their combined power sector emissions fell by 79 MtCO2e compared to 2024 – equivalent to the annual power sector emissions of Brazil – with China down 37 MtCO2e (-0.7%) and India down 42 MtCO2e (-2.9%).

Globally, power sector emissions in 2025 remained almost equal to 2024 levels (-6 MtCO2e, -0.04%). In 2024, emissions had risen by 1.7% (+237 MtCO2e).

China’s fossil generation falls for first time since 2015 as solar power booms

China’s fossil generation fell for the first time since 2015, when an economic downturn led to the lowest electricity demand increase in China this century (+19 TWh, +0.3%). In contrast, the fall in 2025 occurred despite continued strong growth in electricity demand of 503 TWh (+5.0%), as clean generation grew by 561 TWh (+15%). Solar and wind were the largest contributors. Solar grew by 336 TWh, an astonishing 40% rise compared to 2024 output, while wind increased by 138 TWh (+14%). Solar alone met two-thirds of the increase in China’s electricity demand in 2025. According to China’s National Energy Administration, renewable power generation in 2025 exceeded the electricity demand of households and the service sector combined.

The rapid growth in solar and wind generation reflects China’s continued world-leading pace of capacity deployment. As in previous years, China made up more than half of new solar and wind capacity added globally in 2025.

China’s solar capacity deployment of 378 GW(DC) in 2025 made up 58% of global solar installations of 647 GW(DC) and exceeded the United States’ total solar capacity of 274 GW(DC) (see Methodology for DC vs. AC reporting differences). China’s wind installations of 119 GW in 2025 were a 50% increase over deployment in 2024 and accounted for a remarkable 72% of global deployment, which reached a record high of 167 GW in 2025. China’s wind capacity additions in 2025 were larger than the total installed wind capacity in Germany, the world’s third largest wind power country (78 GW).

As a result of the fast-paced clean power deployment, China’s consistent rise in fossil generation has come to a halt. Fossil power output has been flat for nearly two years, with fossil generation in the twelve months to December 2025 remaining at the same level as in January 2024, the longest such streak in recent history.

India’s fossil generation declines amid mild weather conditions and a renewable surge

Fossil generation in India recorded an extraordinary fall of 52 TWh (-3.3%) in 2025. Renewable power generation from solar, wind, hydro and bioenergy saw a record increase of 98 TWh (+24%), twice as large as the previous record set in 2022 (+49 TWh). Solar and wind both set new individual records for year-on-year increases in 2025, rising by 53 TWh (+37%) and 22 TWh (+28%), respectively. Distributed solar, such as rooftop installations, is becoming increasingly important and added an estimated 22 TWh in 2025.

The surge in clean power coincided with the third-lowest increase in electricity demand in the last decade at 49 TWh (+2.4%), leading to a stark departure from the prevailing trend of growing fossil generation in India. In each of the previous four years, demand had grown by more than 100 TWh. Mild weather conditions substantially reduced the need for electricity for cooling and heating. Across the year, milder temperatures avoided an estimated 32 TWh of electricity demand compared to 2024, which had seen the opposite effect, with demand growing above structural trends due to hotter weather. Additionally, a slowdown in industrial activity meant lower-than-usual demand growth in the manufacturing sector. Economic growth in 2025 remained similar to the previous year, with GDP growing by 6.6% in 2025, compared to 6.5% in 2024, according to the IMF.

Beyond the temporary factors present in 2025, the record additions of renewable generation point to decreasing reliance on fossil generation to meet growing electricity demand.

In 2025, renewables overtook coal power globally for the first time in the modern power system. Rapid growth in solar and consistent gains in wind generation have driven renewables to new record highs. Coal power continued to lose market share, falling below a third of global electricity generation for the first time in history. Renewables have now overtaken coal power in every world region, except Asia.

Coal power drops as renewables surpass a third of global electricity generation

For the first time in 100 years, renewables (33.8%, 10,730 TWh) overtook coal power (33.0%, 10,476 TWh). Continued growth in solar and wind pushed the share of renewables above a third of global electricity generation.

At the same time, coal power dropped by 63 TWh (-0.6%) in 2025, marking the first fall since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Combined with steady overall electricity demand growth, this meant that the share of coal fell below a third of global generation for the first time in history.

In 1919, when global electricity demand was nearly 300 times smaller than in 2025, renewables – at the time overwhelmingly hydropower – briefly exceeded coal power. For over 100 years since then, coal power remained the largest source. Its share stayed consistently around or just below 40% of the global power mix from the 1970s to the mid-2010s.

The rise of wind and solar power rapidly increased the contribution from renewables, with their share rising by more than ten percentage points, from 23.0% to 33.8%, in the decade from 2015 to 2025. Wind and solar alone reached 17.3% in 2025, more than tripling over the same period from 4.5% in 2015. In contrast, the share of coal power has declined steadily since 2015, dropping from 38.7% to 33.0% in 2025.

Combined with a fall in the share of gas (down to 21.8% in 2025 from 23.9% in 2020) and other fossil fuels in the global electricity mix, emissions intensity – the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced per unit of electricity – has also declined. In 2025, the average kilowatt hour produced globally resulted in emissions of 458 gCO2e, 2.7% less than in 2024 (471 gCO2e) and down 16% from two decades ago in 2005 (543 gCO2e).

Coal power’s role in the mix is declining across the globe

The declining importance of coal power in the mix is evident across all regions. In every major region, coal has lost market share in the last two decades and renewables have overtaken coal everywhere except Asia.

In Europe, coal’s share fell from 25% in 2005 to 13% in 2025, and to just 9.2% in the EU-27. In 2025, 19 of the EU’s 27 countries had coal shares below 5%, and renewables have exceeded coal across Europe since 2013.

In North America, coal’s share dropped by two-thirds over the same period, from 45% to 15%, as it was largely replaced by renewables and gas.

Coal’s decline has also accelerated in Oceania, falling from 67% in 2005 to 36% in 2025. Renewables overtook coal in 2023 and reached 45% of generation in 2025.

In Africa, coal’s share nearly halved, from 45% to 24%, with renewables overtaking coal in 2025.

Coal has never played a major role in Latin America, accounting for just 4% of generation in 2025, while in the Middle East it also remains marginal at 0.3%.

Asia is now the only region where coal still exceeds renewables, with coal at 52% and renewables at 32% in 2025. Asia makes up the majority (82%) of global coal generation. However, renewables have grown rapidly, increasing their share by ten percentage points in just seven years. Conversely, the share of coal power has dropped by 10% since its recent peak of 62% in 2013.